4 image::altosui.png[width=450]
6 The AltosUI program provides a graphical user interface for
7 interacting with the Altus Metrum product family. AltosUI can
8 monitor telemetry data, configure devices and many other
9 tasks. The primary interface window provides a selection of
10 buttons, one for each major activity in the system. This
11 chapter is split into sections, each of which documents one of
12 the tasks provided from the top-level toolbar.
18 Selecting this item brings up a dialog box listing all
19 of the connected TeleDongle devices. When you choose
20 one of these, AltosUI will create a window to display
21 telemetry data as received by the selected TeleDongle
24 .Device Selection Dialog
25 image::device-selection.png[width=300]
27 All telemetry data received are automatically recorded
28 in suitable log files. The name of the files includes
29 the current date and rocket serial and flight numbers.
31 The radio frequency being monitored by the TeleDongle
32 device is displayed at the top of the window. You can
33 configure the frequency by clicking on the frequency
34 box and selecting the desired frequency. AltosUI
35 remembers the last frequency selected for each
36 TeleDongle and selects that automatically the next
37 time you use that device.
39 Below the TeleDongle frequency selector, the window
40 contains a few significant pieces of information about
41 the altimeter providing the telemetry data stream:
43 * The configured call-sign
45 * The device serial number
47 * The flight number. Each altimeter remembers how
48 many times it has flown.
50 * The rocket flight state. Each flight passes through
51 several states including Pad, Boost, Fast, Coast,
52 Drogue, Main and Landed.
54 * The Received Signal Strength Indicator value. This
55 lets you know how strong a signal TeleDongle is
56 receiving. At the default data rate, 38400 bps, in
57 bench testing, the radio inside TeleDongle v0.2
58 operates down to about -106dBm, while the v3 radio
59 works down to about -111dBm. Weaker signals, or an
60 environment with radio noise may cause the data to
61 not be received. The packet link uses error
62 detection and correction techniques which prevent
63 incorrect data from being reported.
65 * The age of the displayed data, in seconds since the
66 last successfully received telemetry packet. In
67 normal operation this will stay in the low single
68 digits. If the number starts counting up, then you
69 are no longer receiving data over the radio link
70 from the flight computer.
72 Finally, the largest portion of the window contains a
73 set of tabs, each of which contain some information
74 about the rocket. They're arranged in 'flight order'
75 so that as the flight progresses, the selected tab
76 automatically switches to display data relevant to the
77 current state of the flight. You can select other tabs
78 at any time. The final 'table' tab displays all of the
79 raw telemetry values in one place in a
80 spreadsheet-like format.
84 .Monitor Flight Launch Pad View
85 image::launch-pad.png[width=400]
87 The 'Launch Pad' tab shows information used to decide when the
88 rocket is ready for flight. The first elements include red/green
89 indicators, if any of these is red, you'll want to evaluate
90 whether the rocket is ready to launch:
93 This indicates whether the Li-Po battery powering the
94 flight computer has sufficient charge to last for
95 the duration of the flight. A value of more than
96 3.8V is required for a 'GO' status.
98 Apogee Igniter Voltage::
99 This indicates whether the apogee
100 igniter has continuity. If the igniter has a low
101 resistance, then the voltage measured here will be close
102 to the Li-Po battery voltage. A value greater than 3.2V is
103 required for a 'GO' status.
105 Main Igniter Voltage::
106 This indicates whether the main
107 igniter has continuity. If the igniter has a low
108 resistance, then the voltage measured here will be close
109 to the Li-Po battery voltage. A value greater than 3.2V is
110 required for a 'GO' status.
112 On-board Data Logging::
113 This indicates whether there is space remaining
114 on-board to store flight data for the upcoming
115 flight. If you've downloaded data, but failed to erase
116 flights, there may not be any space left. Most of our
117 flight computers can store multiple flights, depending
118 on the configured maximum flight log size. TeleMini
119 v1.0 stores only a single flight, so it will need to
120 be downloaded and erased after each flight to capture
121 data. This only affects on-board flight logging; the
122 altimeter will still transmit telemetry and fire
123 ejection charges at the proper times even if the
124 flight data storage is full.
127 For a TeleMetrum or TeleMega device, this indicates
128 whether the GPS receiver is currently able to compute
129 position information. GPS requires at least 4
130 satellites to compute an accurate position.
134 For a TeleMetrum or TeleMega device, this indicates
135 whether GPS has reported at least 10 consecutive
136 positions without losing lock. This ensures that the
137 GPS receiver has reliable reception from the
140 The Launchpad tab also shows the computed launch pad
141 position and altitude, averaging many reported
142 positions to improve the accuracy of the fix.
146 .Monitor Flight Ascent View
147 image::ascent.png[width=400]
149 This tab is shown during Boost, Fast and Coast
150 phases. The information displayed here helps monitor the
151 rocket as it heads towards apogee.
153 The height, speed, acceleration and tilt are shown along
154 with the maximum values for each of them. This allows you to
155 quickly answer the most commonly asked questions you'll hear
158 The current latitude and longitude reported by the GPS are
159 also shown. Note that under high acceleration, these values
160 may not get updated as the GPS receiver loses position
161 fix. Once the rocket starts coasting, the receiver should
162 start reporting position again.
164 Finally, the current igniter voltages are reported as in the
165 Launch Pad tab. This can help diagnose deployment failures
166 caused by wiring which comes loose under high acceleration.
170 .Monitor Flight Descent View
171 image::descent.png[width=400]
173 Once the rocket has reached apogee and (we hope)
174 activated the apogee charge, attention switches to
175 tracking the rocket on the way back to the ground, and
176 for dual-deploy flights, waiting for the main charge
179 To monitor whether the apogee charge operated
180 correctly, the current descent rate is reported along
181 with the current height. Good descent rates vary based
182 on the choice of recovery components, but generally
183 range from 15-30m/s on drogue and should be below
184 10m/s when under the main parachute in a dual-deploy
187 With GPS-equipped flight computers, you can locate the
188 rocket in the sky using the elevation and bearing
189 information to figure out where to look. Elevation is
190 in degrees above the horizon. Bearing is reported in
191 degrees relative to true north. Range can help figure
192 out how big the rocket will appear. Ground Distance
193 shows how far it is to a point directly under the
194 rocket and can help figure out where the rocket is
195 likely to land. Note that all of these values are
196 relative to the pad location. If the elevation is near
197 90°, the rocket is over the pad, not over you.
199 Finally, the igniter voltages are reported in this tab
200 as well, both to monitor the main charge as well as to
201 see what the status of the apogee charge is. Note
202 that some commercial e-matches are designed to retain
203 continuity even after being fired, and will continue
204 to show as green or return from red to green after
209 .Monitor Flight Landed View
210 image::landed.png[width=400]
212 Once the rocket is on the ground, attention switches
213 to recovery. While the radio signal is often lost once
214 the rocket is on the ground, the last reported GPS
215 position is generally within a short distance of the
216 actual landing location.
218 The last reported GPS position is reported both by
219 latitude and longitude as well as a bearing and
220 distance from the launch pad. The distance should give
221 you a good idea of whether to walk or hitch a ride.
222 Take the reported latitude and longitude and enter
223 them into your hand-held GPS unit and have that
224 compute a track to the landing location.
226 Our flight computers will continue to transmit RDF
227 tones after landing, allowing you to locate the rocket
228 by following the radio signal if necessary. You may
229 need to get away from the clutter of the flight line,
230 or even get up on a hill (or your neighbor's RV roof)
231 to receive the RDF signal.
233 The maximum height, speed and acceleration reported
234 during the flight are displayed for your admiring
235 observers. The accuracy of these immediate values
236 depends on the quality of your radio link and how many
237 packets were received. Recovering the on-board data
238 after flight may yield more precise results.
240 To get more detailed information about the flight, you
241 can click on the 'Graph Flight' button which will
242 bring up a graph window for the current flight.
246 .Monitor Flight Table View
247 image::table.png[width=400]
249 The table view shows all of the data available from the
250 flight computer. Probably the most useful data on
251 this tab is the detailed GPS information, which includes
252 horizontal dilution of precision information, and
253 information about the signal being received from the satellites.
257 .Monitor Flight Site Map View
258 image::site-map.png[width=400]
260 When the TeleMetrum has a GPS fix, the Site Map tab
261 will map the rocket's position to make it easier for
262 you to locate the rocket, both while it is in the air,
263 and when it has landed. The rocket's state is
264 indicated by color: white for pad, red for boost, pink
265 for fast, yellow for coast, light blue for drogue,
266 dark blue for main, and black for landed.
268 The map's default scale is approximately 3m (10ft) per
269 pixel. The map can be dragged using the left mouse
270 button. The map will attempt to keep the rocket
271 roughly centered while data is being received.
273 You can adjust the style of map and the zoom level
274 with buttons on the right side of the map window. You
275 can draw a line on the map by moving the mouse over
276 the map with a button other than the left one pressed,
277 or by pressing the left button while also holding down
278 the shift key. The length of the line in real-world
279 units will be shown at the start of the line.
281 Images are fetched automatically via the Google Maps
282 Static API, and cached on disk for reuse. If map
283 images cannot be downloaded, the rocket's path will be
284 traced on a dark gray background instead.
286 You can pre-load images for your favorite launch sites
287 before you leave home; check out <<_load_maps>>.
291 .Monitor Flight Additional Igniter View
292 image::ignitor.png[width=400]
294 TeleMega includes four additional programmable pyro
295 channels. The Ignitor tab shows whether each of them has
296 continuity. If an ignitor has a low resistance, then the
297 voltage measured here will be close to the pyro battery
298 voltage. A value greater than 3.2V is required for a 'GO'
306 The altimeter records flight data to its internal
309 Data logged on board is recorded at a much
310 higher rate than the telemetry system can handle, and
311 is not subject to radio drop-outs. As such, it
312 provides a more complete and precise record of the
315 The 'Save Flight Data' button allows you to
316 read the flash memory and write it to disk.
318 Clicking on the 'Save Flight Data' button brings up a
319 list of connected flight computers and TeleDongle
320 devices. If you select a flight computer, the flight
321 data will be downloaded from that device directly.
323 If you select a TeleDongle device, flight data will be
324 downloaded from a flight computer over radio link via
325 the specified TeleDongle. See
326 <<_controlling_an_altimeter_over_the_radio_link>> for
330 After the device has been selected, a dialog showing
331 the flight data saved in the device will be shown
332 allowing you to select which flights to download and
333 which to delete. With version 0.9 or newer firmware,
334 you must erase flights in order for the space they
335 consume to be reused by another flight. This prevents
336 accidentally losing flight data if you neglect to
337 download data before flying again. Note that if there
338 is no more space available in the device, then no data
339 will be recorded during the next flight.
341 The file name for each flight log is computed
342 automatically from the recorded flight date, altimeter
343 serial number and flight number information.
347 Select this button and you are prompted to select a flight
348 record file, either a .telem file recording telemetry data or a
349 .eeprom file containing flight data saved from the altimeter
352 Once a flight record is selected, the flight monitor interface
353 is displayed and the flight is re-enacted in real
357 <<_monitor_flight>> to learn how this window operates.
362 Select this button and you are prompted to select a flight
363 record file, either a .telem file recording telemetry data or a
364 .eeprom file containing flight data saved from
367 Note that telemetry files will generally produce poor graphs
368 due to the lower sampling rate and missed telemetry packets.
369 Use saved flight data in .eeprom files for graphing where possible.
371 Once a flight record is selected, a window with multiple tabs is
377 image::graph.png[width=400]
379 By default, the graph contains acceleration (blue),
380 velocity (green) and altitude (red).
382 The graph can be zoomed into a particular area by
383 clicking and dragging down and to the right. Once
384 zoomed, the graph can be reset by clicking and
385 dragging up and to the left. Holding down control and
386 clicking and dragging allows the graph to be panned.
387 The right mouse button causes a pop-up menu to be
388 displayed, giving you the option save or print the
393 .Flight Graph Configuration
394 image::graph-configure.png[width=400]
396 This selects which graph elements to show, and, at the
397 very bottom. It also lets you configure how
400 * Whether to use metric or imperial units
402 * Whether to show a marker at each data
403 point. When displaying a small section of
404 the graph, these can be useful to know what
405 data values were recorded.
407 * How wide to draw the lines in the graph
409 * How to filter speed and acceleration data
410 computed from barometric data. Flight
411 computers with accelerometers never display
412 computed acceleration data, and only use
413 barometric data to compute speed during
414 descent. Flight computers without
415 accelerometers always compute both speed and
416 acceleration from barometric data. A larger
417 value smooths the data more.
419 ==== Flight Statistics
422 image::graph-stats.png[width=400]
424 Shows overall data computed from the flight.
430 image::graph-map.png[width=400]
432 Shows a satellite image of the flight area
433 overlaid with the path of the flight. The
434 flight path will have different colored
435 sections for each state of the flight (just
436 like the Site Map in Monitor Flight mode):
437 white for pad, red for boost, pink for fast,
438 yellow for coast, light blue for drogue, dark
439 blue for main, and black for landed.
441 The red concentric circles mark the launch
442 pad, the black concentric circles mark the
443 landing location. Data for the point along the
444 along the flight path nearest the cursor will
445 be displayed at the bottom of the window. This
446 data includes flight time (so you can
447 correlate data in the graph window), latitude,
448 longitude, height above ground and vertical
449 speed. The selected point will be highlighted
450 with concentric circles in the same color as
451 the flight path at that point.
457 This tool takes the raw data files and makes them
458 available for external analysis. When you select this
459 button, you are prompted to select a flight data file,
460 which can be either a .eeprom or .telem. The .eeprom
461 files contain higher resolution and more continuous
462 data, while .telem files contain receiver signal
463 strength information. Next, a second dialog appears
464 which is used to select where to write the resulting
467 It has a selector to choose between CSV and KML
471 ==== Comma Separated Value Format
473 This is a text file containing the data in a form
474 suitable for import into a spreadsheet or other
475 external data analysis tool. The first few lines of
476 the file contain the version and configuration
477 information from the altimeter, then there is a single
478 header line which labels all of the fields. All of
479 these lines start with a '#' character which many
480 tools can be configured to skip over.
482 The remaining lines of the file contain the data, with
483 each field separated by a comma and at least one
484 space. All of the sensor values are converted to
485 standard units, with the barometric data reported in
486 both pressure, altitude and height above pad units.
489 ==== Keyhole Markup Language (for Google Earth)
491 This is the format used by Google Earth to provide an
492 overlay within that application. With this, you can
493 use Google Earth to see the whole flight path
497 === Configure Altimeter
499 .Altimeter Configuration
500 image::configure-altimeter.png[width=350]
503 Select this button and then select either an altimeter or
504 TeleDongle Device from the list provided. Selecting a TeleDongle
505 device will use the radio link to configure a remote
509 Select this button and then select an altimeter.
512 The first few lines of the dialog provide information about the
513 connected device, including the product name,
514 software version and hardware serial number. Below that are the
515 individual configuration entries.
517 At the bottom of the dialog, there are four buttons:
520 This writes any changes to the configuration parameter
521 block in flash memory. If you don't press this button,
522 any changes you make will be lost.
525 This resets the dialog to the most recently saved
526 values, erasing any changes you have made.
530 This reboots the device. Use this to switch from idle
531 to pad mode by rebooting once the rocket is oriented
532 for flight, or to confirm changes you think you saved
537 This closes the dialog. Any unsaved changes will be
540 The rest of the dialog contains the parameters to be configured.
542 include::config-device.adoc[]
545 === Configure AltosUI
547 .Configure AltosUI Dialog
548 image::configure-altosui.png[width=230]
550 This button presents a dialog so that you can
551 configure the AltosUI global settings.
553 include::config-ui.adoc[]
557 === Configure Groundstation
559 .Configure Groundstation Dialog
560 image::configure-groundstation.png[width=300]
562 Select this button and then select a TeleDongle or
563 TeleBT Device from the list provided.
565 The first few lines of the dialog provide information
566 about the connected device, including the product
567 name, software version and hardware serial
568 number. Below that are the individual configuration
571 Note that TeleDongle and TeleBT don't save any
572 configuration data, the settings here are recorded on
573 the local machine in the Java preferences
574 database. Moving the device to another machine, or
575 using a different user account on the same machine
576 will cause settings made here to have no effect.
578 At the bottom of the dialog, there are three
582 This writes any changes to the local Java
583 preferences file. If you don't press this
584 button, any changes you make will be lost.
587 This resets the dialog to the most recently
588 saved values, erasing any changes you have
592 This closes the dialog. Any unsaved changes
595 The rest of the dialog contains the parameters
600 This configures the frequency to use for both
601 telemetry and packet command mode. Set this
602 before starting any operation involving packet
603 command mode so that it will use the right
604 frequency. Telemetry monitoring mode also
605 provides a menu to change the frequency, and
606 that menu also sets the same Java preference
611 The radios in every Altus Metrum device are
612 calibrated at the factory to ensure that they
613 transmit and receive on the specified
614 frequency. To change a TeleDongle or TeleBT's
615 calibration, you must reprogram the unit
616 completely, so this entry simply shows the
617 current value and doesn't allow any changes.
621 This lets you match the telemetry and packet
622 link rate from the transmitter. If they don't
623 match, the device won't receive any data.
628 This reprograms Altus Metrum devices with new
630 ifdef::telemetrum,telemini[]
631 TeleMetrum v1.x, TeleDongle v0.2, TeleMini v1.0
632 and TeleBT v1.0 are all reprogrammed by using another
633 similar unit as a programming dongle (pair
635 endif::telemetrum,telemini[]
636 ifdef::telemega,easymega,easytimer,telemetrum[]
637 TeleMega, EasyMega, TeleMetrum v2 or newer,
638 EasyMini, EasyTimer, TeleBT v3 or newer and TeleDongle v3
640 endif::telemega,easymega,easytimer,telemetrum[]
641 ifndef::telemega,easymega,easytimer,telemetrum[]
643 endif::telemega,easymega,easytimer,telemetrum[]
645 over USB (self programming). Please read
646 the directions for flashing devices in
647 <<_updating_device_firmware>>.
652 image::fire-igniter.png[width=120]
654 This activates the igniter circuits in the flight
655 computer to help test recovery systems
658 Because this command can operate over the
659 Packet Command Link, you can prepare the rocket as for
660 flight and then test the recovery system without
661 needing to snake wires inside the air-frame.
664 Selecting the 'Fire Igniter' button brings up the
665 usual device selection dialog. Pick the desired
666 device. This brings up another window which shows the
667 current continuity test status for all of the pyro
670 Next, select the desired igniter to fire. This will
671 enable the 'Arm' button.
673 Select the 'Arm' button. This enables the 'Fire'
674 button. The word 'Arm' is replaced by a countdown
675 timer indicating that you have 10 seconds to press the
676 'Fire' button or the system will deactivate, at which
677 point you start over again at selecting the desired
683 .Scan Channels Window
684 image::scan-channels.png[width=300]
686 This listens for telemetry packets on all of the
687 configured frequencies, displaying information about
688 each device it receives a packet from. You can select
689 which of the baud rates and telemetry formats should
690 be tried; by default, it only listens at 38400 baud
691 with the standard telemetry format used in v1.0 and
696 include::load-maps.adoc[]
703 image::monitor-idle.png[width=500]
705 This brings up a dialog similar to the Monitor Flight
706 UI, except it works with the altimeter in “idle” mode
707 by sending query commands to discover the current
708 state rather than listening for telemetry
709 packets. Because this uses command mode, it needs to
710 have the TeleDongle and flight computer callsigns
711 match exactly. If you can receive telemetry, but
712 cannot manage to run Monitor Idle, then it's very
713 likely that your callsigns are different in some way.
715 You can change the frequency and callsign used to
716 communicate with the flight computer; they must both
717 match the configuration in the flight computer